The
Russian Airborne Troops (RAT) will be mainly equipped with domestically-designed
armored vehicles, including Tigr-M, RAT Commander Col. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov
said. “Our brigade-level air assault units will have an armored
car component based on Tigr vehicles,” Shamanov said at a news conference
in RIA Novosti on Monday. “The deliveries of Tigr-M will start soon,
and the first recipients of these vehicles will be special forces units.”

The SPM-2 GAZ-233036 Tigr
(Tiger) is a high-mobility multipurpose military vehicle manufactured
by MIC, a GAZ Group division, at the Arzamas machine-manufacturing plant.

It has a maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour and can carry up to
nine personnel or 1.2 tons of cargo.

In addition, the Russian Airborne Troops may order experimental Typhoon
6x6 armored personnel carriers, manufactured by Russia’s KamAZ,
after the company modifies the vehicle’s design to match the demands
of the Russian paratroopers, Shamanov said.

The Iveco LMV M65 Lynx, was picked under former defense minister Anatoly
Sedyukov over the locally produced GAZ-2330 Tigr armored vehicle in a
rare departure from the military's principle of "buying domestic."

The first 57 vehicles were assembled last year with 10 percent local content
at a plant in Voronezh. The remaining 301 vehicles under existing contract
will be assembled in 2013 at a new KAMAZ plant in Tatarstan.

Newly-appointed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has insisted that domestic
manufacturers must have priority in procuring weaponry for the Russian
military.

As part of the 2011-2020 state arms procurement program, the Defense Ministry
plans to buy 1,775 LMVs
by 2015 for $1 billion.